Peyton Manning talks Luke Del Rio, attends first HS game

Oklahoma State quarterback commit Luke Del Rio’s season opener was streamed live on ESPN3 Friday night. Turns out it was a star-studded event.

Of course, it made sense that Luke’s father, Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, was in attendance. But so was head coach John Fox.

And Peyton Manning. He even spent the second half on the sideline.

Luke has talked with me about his relationship with Manning and his desire to learn from the future Hall of Fame quarterback this season. But this was evidence that Manning has also taken an interest in Luke.

Manning also talked about this last week, as detailed in this Denver Post blog from beat writer Lindsay Jones. He invited Luke to sit in on meetings, and Luke even got to play some catch in between practice periods during OTAs and early in training camp. Manning got a similar experience when he was about to start his senior year of high school, when Saints coach Jim Mora, Sr. allowed him to come to meetings and participate in offseason drills.

“I know Luke, this will be a great experience for him, just listening to meetings–that was big for me—-hearing about different ideas on coverages. I’m looking forward to keeping up with him this year. He’s a great kid,” Manning said.